Week 12 - Dance Show 2

Julia was too busy again to do a meeting for the pitch. I think it's mainly to do with the time of the year though as she has a lot of work around Christmas. I will gently remind her from time to time as this is actually the last official week of the work placement in this module. Next week I will already be back in for a final class before this needs to be handed in.

Instead, she did have more work experience for me with another dance show. This time it was filmed in the Beachcombe Holiday Park, which is a smaller venue than last time but we had three shows to film instead of just the one.

In comparison to last week, I felt a lot more useful. Perhaps it was due to the experience of the week before, so I now knew how to set things up by myself. We had the same setup to last week, with a three camera tricaster system and talk-back mics. I helped set this up as well as having the responsibility to tape all the cables down to make sure it was safe for the audience to walk over them. I also arrived before everyone else apart from Julia, which meant I was able to start setting up early on. Which is fortunate, as we had similar technical issues to last time: some temperamental connections with the cables.  Thankfully, we were again able to get them fixed a few minutes before the start of the show, but it was a bit close.

During the shows, I was on the wide shot camera again, but due to the nature of this show I was able to be a lot more creative with the camera movement. This made the day a lot more interesting to me too, as I wasn't just making sure the action stayed in the shot. Instead I got to pan and zoom in and out as occasion required.

By the third show, we had some technical issues again, but this time with the talk-back system. The mic going to my receiver wasn't working just as the show started, which meant I had no directions from the director for the whole show. Thankfully though, it happened on the third show, which meant I had a fairly good idea of what the director wanted from me. I made sure if ever I did move the camera that the movements were careful and slow just in case my camera was being used at the time.

I had a very enjoyable day, and again gained a lot of useful experience. I now feel more comfortable on a moving camera. I think Julia sees this, as she has asked for me to do it again next week. I was also pleased that I could set everything up OK too.

 

I am on the camera on the far left

Reflections on Week 12

I feel like these eight weeks have whizzed by. I've learned a lot from them however and enjoyed the experience immensely. I have no doubt the things I've learned during these eight weeks will serve me well throughout the rest of my career. I think one thing I've realised though is that one cannot have enough experience in this industry, as even though the basics will be the same, every job is different. No doubt I will continue learning even after these eight weeks as I continue on with Julia and my university course. I have now completed another SWOT analysis found in the "About Me" section of this blog, to showcase my progression from the start of the work placement to after its completion.